XIV INTRODUCTORY CHAPTER. 



long haunted me ; has mingled itself with my cogi- 

 tations, and, however trivial may appear the result, 

 has been a principal cause of my putting together 

 this work ; as it must be the desire of every en- 

 lightened mind to look round him and consider in 

 what way he can best promote the national welfare. 

 For my own part, reflecting how many are effec- 

 tively making known the sublime truths of our reli- 

 gion, how many are gloriously labouring in the fair 

 fields of literature, I am rather desirous to turn the 

 eyes of those whose attention I may be so happy 

 as to gain on the loveliness and influence of Nature; 

 believing, that in so doing, I am subserving religion 

 and literature also. In truth, there is no spirit 

 which it is more important to cherish in a com- 

 mercial people, as we are, than a spirit of attach- 

 ment to Nature. Were it not that it had been 

 fostered by our inestimable literature a literature 

 which has caught its noble tone from the Christian 

 faith there can be no doubt that the calculating 

 spirit of trade would long ago have quenched in 

 the national heart those lofty sentiments which have 

 borne it proudly in the eyes of an admiring world 

 above all contamination ; and that we should have 

 sunk into that sordid narrowness of soul which has 

 regularly marked commercial states. It is a spirit 

 which, however, as commerce advances, becomes 

 more and more endangered by the very circum- 

 stance of our population being engulfed in great 

 towns. Books can and do penetrate into every 

 nook of our most extended and crowded cities; 



